The Worst Villain is Actually a Cute Girl

Chapter 31: For a Normal Tomorrow

Meanwhile, Red was outside.

On her way back after quickly completing her assignment, the device she had given Nina activated, sending a text message to Red’s phone.

It was quite a large file.

Stopping the car in one place, Red slowly read through the transmitted data, her expression hardening by the second.

It was the information Nina had found in the abandoned orphanage.

Her worst fears had come true.

She had secretly hoped it wasn’t the case, but reality was cruel.

Isaac had used the children from the orphanage he ran to commit corruption.

An act that was utterly unforgivable.

She had expected it, but seeing the true nature of someone who was once a comrade was shocking.

Red closed her eyes.

Her face darkened.

More than the disgusting truth, something else weighed heavier on her heart.

She knew exactly what it meant for the device she had given Nina to activate.

‘How foolish… Why did she go on her own…?’

She didn’t consider herself particularly close to Nina.

But they weren’t on bad terms either.

They had gotten to know each other when things were still good with Isaac, and after splitting from him, they hardly ever crossed paths.

In short, their relationship was neutral.

Even so, the death of an acquaintance unsettled her.

For a Problem Solver, death was an inseparable companion.

In this world, death was an all-too-familiar, common occurrence.

She wished she could accept it as easily as others did.

But even after reaching the highest rank, she still found it difficult to remain indifferent to someone’s death.

Red’s eyes trembled faintly.

She silently prayed for Nina’s soul.

‘Isaac…!’

Determined to see things through, Red turned her car around and headed for the abandoned orphanage.

On the way there, she suddenly received a call that something had happened at the orphanage.

Most problems were handled entirely by Rene.

The fact that they contacted her meant it was truly an emergency.

Red’s hesitation lasted only a moment.

She turned the car and slammed on the accelerator, rushing toward the orphanage.

Upon arrival, the scene made Red furrow her brows.

The entire yard bore clear signs of an intense battle.

What concerned her more was the numerous shards of crystalized ashes, chunks of ice, and traces of a familiar magical presence scattered throughout.

Red immediately realized who had been here.

“Red…”

Rene, who had been waiting in the yard, brightened upon seeing Red but quickly fell into despair.

She recounted everything that had happened.

The attack by the Grim Reaper Cult followers and Isaac, and how Lily had willingly gone with them to protect everyone.

By the end of her explanation, Rene gritted her teeth in frustration.

Her clenched fists trembled.

“…I’m sorry. I was here… I was here, but I couldn’t protect them. I should have done better… I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.”

Lowering her head deeply, Rene apologized.

Red placed a hand on Rene’s head and ruffled her hair roughly.

With a groan, Rene let out a small whimper and instinctively grabbed Red’s wrist to stop her.

Red pulled her hand away from Rene’s head.

Rene lifted her face.

Her blue hair was an absolute mess.

Seeing that, Red let out a faint smirk.

“It’s fine. You did well enough. A clone wouldn’t have been able to stop Isaac, especially not in a place like this.”

Her voice held no blame.

Red didn’t think this was Rene’s fault.

It was simply unfortunate circumstances and poor conditions.

She knew the difference in power between Rene and Isaac.

If it had been Rene’s real body fighting Isaac in a different location, she was certain Rene would have won a hundred out of a hundred times.

“It’s okay. Nothing has been lost. What was taken— we’ll take it back.”

No one had lost their life.

That was enough.

Broken things could be fixed, and messes could be cleaned up.

If she found Isaac and brought Lily back, everything would return to the way it was.

"By the way, did he say why he took Lily? Other than that nonsense about saving the world?"

Rene shook her head.

"The only thing certain is that Isaac seemed to know something about Lily."

"Saying she shouldn’t exist in this world… What a ridiculous thing to say."

"I'm not sure what he meant, but now that I think about it, Isaac always seemed very interested in Lily."

"He kept staring at her, so I figured there had to be a reason… I never imagined he’d go this far."

"Why would he do something like this?"

"We can hear the details straight from him."

This whole incident had erupted suddenly.

Acting this recklessly was bound to cause trouble later.

It wasn’t like Isaac to be this careless.

Which meant this had to have been an impulsive decision.

Red figured he must have realized his ugly crimes were about to be exposed.

After sorting through her thoughts,

Red moved her legs, ready to leave.

"I’ll be back."

"I…! I’ll go with you!"

"No. I’m going alone. You stay here and clean up the yard. Imagine how scared the kids would be if they saw this mess. Besides, it's almost time, isn’t it?"

"But… Alright. Leave the cleaning to me."

Just as Red was about to leave—

"Um, Red…."

"Hm?"

"That child… took off her mask and showed me her face."

Red’s eyes widened.

The girl who had always refused to remove her mask had done so willingly? That was surprising news.

But from the sadness in Rene’s expression, Red knew this wasn’t something she was just sharing for the sake of it.

"She didn’t cry, but… she looked unbearably sad."

Rene remembered it vividly, as if it had just happened.

The moment Lily took off her mask, Rene had been utterly stunned.

She questioned whether what she was seeing was real.

To think someone could look like that.

She was still just a child.

And yet, her beauty was enough to send chills down one’s spine.

When those blue eyes gazed at her, Rene had felt a tinge of embarrassment.

Because compared to that face, she felt unbearably insignificant.

At the same time, her heart ached.

It hurt far worse than the wounds Isaac had inflicted on her.

Those melancholic blue eyes were filled with sorrow.

Rene could feel her resolve clearly.

A firm will—

A plea not to come looking for her.

And then, as if to express gratitude for everything,

Lily slightly bowed her head—

Before putting her mask back on.

"If Lily hadn’t gone with them, the damage would have been much worse.

In a way, she actually helped us.

So…"

Rene thought Lily was a pitiful child, yet deep down, she couldn't shake off her doubts.

Her past was shrouded in mystery.

There was something ominous about the immense power hidden within her small frame.

As the one responsible for protecting the children of the orphanage, Rene couldn't afford to overlook even the smallest potential danger.

That’s why, though she treated Lily like a child, she never fully let her guard down.

But over time, that wariness had begun to fade.

She had started to sense that Lily genuinely cared for the children of the orphanage.

And when she saw Lily throw herself in front of Lena to protect her, Rene was convinced.

Lily wasn’t a dangerous girl.

She wasn’t some child that shouldn’t exist in this world, as Isaac had claimed.

"Please bring her back."

"Yeah."

At Rene’s earnest request, Red responded without hesitation.

To punish the villain, retrieve Lily, and welcome a tomorrow just like any other, Red hurriedly set off.

Hmph.

What a place to bring back unpleasant memories.

Following Isaac, I arrived at some abandoned building.

He led me through an underground passage before reaching a suspicious-looking location.

Strange equipment, machines, and peculiar objects filled the space.

This was a laboratory.

I didn’t know what kind of experiments were conducted here, but it was anything but normal.

‘The smell of blood lingers in the air. A lot of people must have died here.’

A revolting aura wrapped around my body.

A so-called Problem Solver had committed something truly horrific.

Did he throw away all sense of professional ethics?

I was tightly bound by a light snare, completely immobilized.

This was easy enough to escape, but for now, I decided to observe the situation.

Rolling my eyes around, I took in my surroundings before focusing on Isaac.

He was busy fiddling with a mechanical device.

After a moment, he approached me.

"Until the time comes, why don’t we have a nice little chat, kid? But first, wearing a mask while talking to someone is beyond rude, don’t you think?"

Isaac reached out and forcibly removed my mask.

The moment he saw my bare face, his expression twisted dramatically.

He dropped the mask he had been holding, his mouth half-open as he stared at me blankly.

Where there had once been indifference in his eyes, greed and desire now flickered violently.

A sly grin spread across his lips.

"Hahaha, what’s this? I thought you were hiding some hideous face under that mask, but to think you’d have such a beautiful one instead. Now I almost feel like it’d be a waste to use you for the experiment."

Isaac reached out and gently caressed my smooth cheek.

His touch made my skin crawl, and my stomach churned.

Ugh. I felt like throwing up.

What’s so appealing about this body type? What an irredeemable bastard.

"Why aren’t you talking? You must have a lot of questions. Ah, right. You can’t speak. Just move your lips."

I wriggled my body to shake off his hand, making it clear I didn’t want him touching me.

Then, I glared at him and mouthed my words.

[Are you sure about this?]

Regret filled Isaac’s eyes.

As if reminiscing about the sensation of my cheek, he clenched his hand into a fist.

Disgusting.

He didn’t immediately respond, as if struggling to understand.

The silence dragged on.

I had kept my lip movements simple enough to be easy to read.

Fortunately, he wasn’t completely oblivious, because he eventually spoke.

"Honestly, you messed up my original plan.

I only intended to bring you along, but because you resisted, your mask broke, and Rene ended up seeing your face."

Isaac let out a long sigh before continuing.

"But well, it’s fine.

Even if it’s troublesome, there’s a way to fix it."

Isaac tapped his forehead with his fingers.

"Memories can be erased.

There are plenty of places that offer that kind of procedure if you throw in some money.

It’s a bit unsettling to tamper with someone’s brain, but I’ll make it work somehow.

If only you had just followed me obediently from the start, this wouldn’t have been necessary."

The audacity of this guy.

His tone, as if blaming me, was irritating, but I proceeded with my next question.

[Do you know my identity?]

Yeah. This was what I wanted to know.

Isaac seemed to know something about me.

I asked if he had any useful information, but his answer was disappointing.

"That’s what you want to ask me?"

Isaac placed a finger under my chin and lifted it.

He stared at my face.

As if trying to confirm something carefully.

"I’ve never seen a face like this before.

With a face like yours, it wouldn’t be strange for you to be known, so why haven’t you appeared anywhere?

Did someone create you and then forget about it?"

As he examined me, I studied his face as well.

He didn’t seem to be lying.

He really didn’t know anything about me.

Then why did he say those things to Rene?

Was it just a bluff to shake her up?

"What exactly are you?"

I didn’t know either, so I remained silent.

Then I moved my lips again.

[Then why me?]

It seemed like Isaac had been targeting me from the beginning.

His constant attention toward me suddenly made sense.

But why?

It didn’t seem like he was after me because I was the Grim Reaper.

And he didn’t seem to know much about me either.

So why did he choose me?

Fortunately, Isaac was quite talkative.

Like a teacher pleased with a student’s question, he was kind enough to explain.

"Have you ever heard the saying that one loach can muddy an entire pond?

Simply put, your existence is a bug to me.

And if a bug is left alone, things won’t function properly, right?

Normally, I would take my time figuring you out.

But unfortunately, I don’t have that kind of time right now.

So if I’m going to get rid of you anyway, I might as well use you for an experiment.

Who knows?

You might just be the final ingredient for my masterpiece."

Masterpiece?

I looked past Isaac, toward the massive glass chamber.

I had already sensed something stronger than him inside.

So that’s your pet?

And you’re calling it your masterpiece?

Well, I think I can guess what kind of place this is and what experiments were conducted here.

I asked the final question I was most curious about.

[What exactly is your goal?]

Since arriving here, that had been bothering me.

Why go to such horrific lengths?

A Problem Solver like Isaac didn’t seem to lack money or reputation.

There was no reason for him to dirty his hands with something like this.

What was he trying to gain?

Isaac’s mouth stretched into a wide grin.

His eyes sparkled as if I had finally asked the right question.

Like a child about to share an incredible secret, he spoke excitedly.

"To save the world."

…What?

"You look like you don’t understand.

Well, it’s hard to believe that someone claiming to save the world would set up a lab like this and conduct dangerous experiments.

But the world doesn’t work the way I want it to.

I don’t want to do this either, but what choice do I have?

To protect the entire forest, sometimes you have to sacrifice a single tree.

You have to make bold decisions."

Isaac’s smile turned even more sinister.

Then, he gently caressed my cheek again and spoke.

"So don’t be too upset. You’re simply becoming the foundation for the world. In fact, it’s quite an honor."